Grads assess job outlook

Opportunities are available locally

By Connie Cartmell, ccartmell@mariettatimes.com
A dozen years of suffering with an elusive and debilitating condition called fibromyalgia didn’t stop Cindy Lincoln from realizing her dream of graduating from college.

Now it’s time to begin a career.

“I feel like I am in my 20s,” the 48-year-old mother of four said.

On June 13, Lincoln expects to graduate from the massage therapy program at Washington State Community College and will continue a therapy practice she’s already initiated at the Marietta Family YMCA.

“There are 10 in my class, and it won’t be hard for anybody to find employment after graduation,” she said. “Opportunities are growing here like anyplace else.”

Thousands of soon-to-be-graduates of colleges and high schools throughout the region and state face the big, wide world of employment this summer.

Options are many. Guarantees are few.

A record number of Washington State students, 371, have petitioned for graduation this spring. Health-related fields continue to be among the leaders in career opportunities locally.

“Many of our students have families and ties to the community. They want to stay here,” said Ann Hontz, dean of enrollment management at Washington State. “With our health grads, many already have jobs lined up, some with sign-on bonuses. One RN (registered nursing) student was offered four jobs.”

There are opportunities locally for chemical operators and in instrumentation and electrical engineering, Hontz said. The school works with its students in career exploration and “focus” throughout their enrollment, she said.

Certification programs, such as the two-year Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy (OPOTA) offers placement in local law enforcement and corrections programs.

At Marietta College, close to 300 seniors graduate Saturday and most will soon make tracks for the vast job market.

The National Association of Colleges & Employers first reported an optimistic number of 16 percent more jobs for graduates in 2008 over 2007, but revised numbers downward to 8 percent in February, according to Hilles Hughes, director of the career center at Marietta College.

“The good news is that 8 percent is still higher than last year’s projection,” Hughes said, “but since last fall, things have not improved (economically) and that’s why (we see) the lower numbers.”

Hughes is optimistic about the future of Marietta grads in the job market in the broad sense.

“So many employers are reporting replacement positions opening up. This marks a shifting demographic with retirements happening,” she said. “College grads tend to receive lower salaries, but get the job openings.”

Nationwide, accounting, engineering, technical and health-related careers are taking the lion’s share of new graduates. Any job impacted adversely by technology, such as a clerical position that might now be done by computer, is on the wane.

At Marietta College, one specialized field—petroleum engineering—seldom has an issue with job placement after graduation.

“All of our seniors in that program were placed in 2007,” Hughes said. “That is highly unusual for an entire program, but petroleum engineering is specialized and highly technical.”

There are fewer than 50 graduates in the program this year, about the normal number, she said.

“Educators are still in high demand, but the issue is often location. It can be a huge factor in placement,” she said. “With petroleum engineering... you go where the jobs are—for example, Alaska.”

Education graduates tend to want to stick closer to home and job availability is not as great.

“We work with students for a lifetime,” Hughes said. “Services of the career center at Marietta College are free to our students for as long as they are needed.”

The focus is helping students find their career path and achieve job placement.

“None of us can control the economy,” Hughes said. “But all of us have control over our skills, choices we make and our career path.”

There is no solid data on how many graduates get jobs right out of college. Hughes said after-graduation surveys are distributed, but not all returned.

Mike Jacoby, executive director of the Southeastern Ohio Port Authority, said locally, high school and college graduates will see opportunities in health care, some new demand for engineers, construction, banking and plumbing and pipefitting.

“My opinion is that the domestic workforce is no longer growing,” he said. “The birth rate is not great and baby boomers are retiring.”

If a young person is educated, has marketable skills and a good work ethic, Jacoby believes he or she is in a good position to find employment here or elsewhere.

“There is a great demand for skilled people whether the person has a college degree or certification,” he said. “It’s always harder to find a job in a small community. We are not the Silicon Valley and do not have huge defense construction here.”

With a technical profession, there will be great demand nationally, he said.

In Ohio, the call is for more registered nurses, customer service reps, teachers at all levels, truck drivers, accountants, auto mechanics and physicians and surgeons.

As demand for oil and natural gas across the nation increases, the local industry is ramping up, providing more opportunity for oil and gas field workers and engineers here, Jacoby said.